In the last decade, the online world has been ruled by two, twin forces: The Crowd and The Algorithm. The collective “users” of the Internet (The Crowd) create, click, and rate, while mathematical equations add scalability and findability to these overwhelming quantities of data (The Algorithm). Like the moon over the ocean, the pull of these two forces help create…
A few years back, several close friends of mine worked for a remarkable startup. Their trajectory was incredible, growing from $0-$75+ million dollars in their first 4 years and becoming a recognized brand name in the process. At its height, the company employed more than 130 people and their products reached customers in dozens of countries. After being featured in…
I hate selling – both the players and the game. But, for the first 6 years of my career, I ran a consulting company. That meant making sales or going home hungry. I did plenty of the latter before I found a tolerable way to do the former.
Early on in our consulting business, we found clients the traditional way…
I’m not partial to expletives in my writing, but I’m making an exception with the embedded video below, which you should watch before reading the rest of the post (don’t worry, it’s enjoyable as well as instructive):…
Every year that I’ve run SEOmoz, I’ve thought to myself “Who was that idiot they let run this place last year?”
Oh right... that guy. Doh.
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It’s not that every decision I’ve made has been terrible, or that I’ve brought the company to the brink of destruction, but it is true that the quantity of unexecuted opportunity has outpaced…
There can be little doubt that the US unemployment rate is at historical highs. The US Labor Department does a good job compiling these statistics (though nuances certainly exist) and Google’s Public Data charts visualize this nicely:…
Nearly everyone in the startup space has recognized the rise of a new class of VC and angel investor over the last few years. I’ll call them the “celebrity-investor” because much of their reputation stems not necessarily from their accomplishments (though most have achieved and invested in remarkable things) but from their personal brand – often centered around a popular…
As a first-time entrepreneur, many of the issues I face with my startup are “for the first time.” Acquisitions definitely fit into that bucket. While I don’t have first-hand experience, I recently received some advice that resonated strongly and am sharing it here.
This information and my takeaways/perspectives come (mostly) via an excellent dinner panel discussion this week hosted by…
Many have posited that the brilliance of Twitter is in the limitation provided by 140 characters. This “restriction” in fact “frees” (some) contributors to be uncommonly communicative, creative and profound in the shortened medium, and builds expectations for consumers of the content.
In much the same fashion, I believe this blog can benefit from some ground rules laid at the…
